Clara Barton

...

In 1868, Clara Barton traveled to Europe for rest and recovery for an illness. It was here that she learned about the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. While in Europe, Clara volunteered for the Red Cross’ efforts in the Franco-Prussian war. She was amazed at how much could be done through a systematic organization. Clara returned home to the United States in 1873 after receiving news of her sister's illness. Following her sister's death, in 1877, at the age of sixty Clara Barton began the work for which she would be most remembered - the founding of the American Red Cross. Inspired by what she saw in Europe, Clara Barton began her crusade to get the Red Cross in America. She gave speeches and created a brochure titled "The Red Cross of the Geneva Convention: What It Is." This effort increased public awareness and support for her work. She became involved with any organization or person she thought could further her cause. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (who saw the Red Cross as an opportunity for women to hold positions of importance within a large organization) assured her the support of feminists. She spent months talking to senators and congressmen. Clara Barton took her appeal to three Presidents’ for approval. President Chester Arthur finally signed the Geneva Treaty or the Red Cross Treaty in 1882 and a few days later the Senate also approved it. Clara believed the signing of the treaty was the most important achievement of her life's work.

[pic 2]

Clara Barton was also the one who determined the role of the American Red Cross in peacetime. The American Red Cross, with Barton at its head, was largely devoted to disaster relief for the first 20 years of its existence. Clara Barton spoke at the Third International Conference of the Red Cross in 1884. There she talked about the peacetime work of the American Red Cross helping victims of natural disasters. She told the attendees that her “organization's mission was to fill the gap immediately after a disaster, before government was able to respond, providing victims with food, shelter, and clothing.” After Barton's speech, an amendment to the treaty was made stating "Red Cross societies engage in time of peace in humanitarian work—such as taking care of the sick and rendering relief in extraordinary calamities where, as in war, prompt and organized relief is demanded." In tribute to Clara Barton, this is known as the American Amendment. In 1904 Clara Barton resigned as president of the American Red Cross, leaving the organization she created.

Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912 at the age of ninety. She spent her life helping people. Through her life's work, Clara Barton became a powerful leader, negotiator, public personality, humanitarian, and American legend. She had a strong determination to accomplish whatever she set out to do. She was a unique woman in a time when most women lived simple lives of caring for a home, husband and children. Clara Barton chose to be a pioneer, affecting education, health care, organizational leadership, and feminist opportunity. “Although she was never formally associated with feminist organizations, her attitude about what women could achieve and were capable of was expressed by the way she lived her life.” She began teaching school at a time when most teachers were men and she was among the first women to gain employment in the federal government. Barton risked her life to bring supplies and support to soldiers in the field during the Civil War. At age 60, she founded the American Red Cross and led it for 23 years. Her understanding of the needs of people in distress and the ways in which she could provide help to them guided her throughout her life. Her intense devotion to serving others resulted in enough achievements to fill several ordinary lifetimes. Over 180 years after her birth, the incredible stories of this great woman continue. Her life was filled with unlimited compassion and commitment to helping wherever there was a need. [pic 3]

Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Primary Source #1 – Barton, Clara. The Red Cross In Peace and War. American Historical Press, 1899. Pages 13-14; 61-72; 97-106

Annotation: In her own words “why” the Red Cross in the United States. Her own speech to President and Congress about need for Red Cross. Red Cross and Philanthropy.

Primary Source #2 – Barton, William E. The Life of Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross, volume 1. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1922. Pages 53-88; 172-190

Annotation: First experience as a teacher. Leaving her school to further her education. Schoolroom to patent office.

Primary Source #3 - Barton, William E. The Life of Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross, volume 2. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1922: Pages 1-9; 144-159; 326-360

Annotation: Clara’s first knowledge of the Red Cross. Years of sickness and recovery. Clara Barton’s death.

Primary Source #4 – Barton, Clara. The Story of My Childhood. The Journal Publishing Company, 1907. Pages 9-145

Annotation: Clara’s family and growing up in that family.

Secondary Sources:

Secondary Source #1 - Ross, Ishbel. Angel of the Battlefield, The Life of Clara Barton. Harper and Brothers, 1956. Pages 106-147

Annotation: Illustrations. Geneva Convention. Red Cross reaches America.

Secondary Source #2 – Rose, Mary Catherine. Clara Barton, Soldier of Mercy. Scholastic Book Service, 1960. Pages 5-64

Annotation: Clara’s early years (childhood). Nursing her brother. Off to Washington D.C.. Missing Soldiers.

Secondary Source #3 – Oates, Stephen B. A Woman of Valor, Clara Barton and the Civil War. The Free Press, 994. Pages 55-134

Annotation: Clara on the battlefields and how she moved into action to help wounded soldiers. Self-taught Nurse.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Secondary Source #4 – Koestler-Gack, Rachel A. The Story of Clara Barton. Chelsea House Publishers,